Disclaimer:

For all of you readers who have been following this book, I am letting you all know that I've now decided to separate this fanfic into 3 separate books instead of putting all of the chapters in one massive blob and also the Prologue and Chapter One will now be a combined page. (From that, I have renamed the title by adding "Part 1", so it's still the same book don't worry. ;) )

Thank you all for your support, likes and views on this story!

So with that out of the way, let's get on to the final chapter of Part 1! (Warning: Excuse the cursive language I have added in this final chapter from Chūya.)

Chapter 7

Kaiya's POV

"Alright, prepare the procedure." I'm in a small white room, strapped to a silver chair by leather restraints that burn my skin. Around me were machines that were connected with wires and hooked up to monitors and I wore a white hospital gown while my brunette hair is wildly long down to my waist. Surrounding me was a small crowd of five men and women in white lab coats. All of them were walking around the room, checking the monitors and a few would give me cold glances every time they walked by me. I was scared, I could barely move my body in the leather restraints and I felt as if my mouth forbid me from screaming even though it wasn't covered. I didn't know where I was? Who were these people? Why was I here? The men and woman in coats continued walking around and pass me to each monitor for quite some time, only until there came in a man. Like the rest of the people in the room, he two wore a white lab coat, his head was bald and he wore black thick-rimmed glasses that surrounded his sharp silver eyes.

The men and woman around the monitors stop to watch him approach and even some I saw left the room in a bit of a hurry. He sits down on a silver stool on the left side of me and I could see him putting down a white briefcase on top of a side table. I see him clicks both its locks and opens it wide, the contents inside were both a syringe needle and a thin vile of some kind of black liquid. Only before I turning away, his eyes made brief contact with mine as he notices me eyeing the case. He begins preparing the syringe and just as he had it in place, he gives me a smile that looked none genuine as he then tells me, "Don't worry, this will only hurt a bit." The look I saw in his eyes was cold and cruel, it gave me goosebumps. I started struggling to pull my arms out to push him, but only until he abruptly placed his hand on my throat and grasped it tightly while telling me to stop resisting. I immediately lost strength in my arms to try and as I see the syringe slowly inch closer to my chest, where he was aiming for, I felt tears picking out from the corners of my eyes. I shut them tightly closed, knowing that what would happen next would not hurt a bit. However, after a few moments, I didn't feel anything and as then slowly opened my eyes, I suddenly found myself somewhere else. I was no longer in the white room and the machines and man were gone. I was sitting in the backseat of a car, wearing a yellow hoodie and dark sweat-shorts instead of a hospital gown, and my hair though not long was still messy and down to my shoulders length.

"We can't outrun them." The voice of a woman speaks up from in front of me and I see two people arguing in the front. I couldn't see what they looked like because of how the beams of the headlights brightened up the front of the car and cast a shadow on them both, but I was able to make out a man in the driver seat on the right-hand side of the car. "We got to try." He argued back into the woman, who sat in the passenger seat in a deep serious tone. "If we get caught, our promise to her and Daito would've been for nothing." The car begins to pass by a few lampposts on the sides of the highway road we were on, and I could see their faces more clearly. The man was tall with a broad built and had dark wavy hair, while the woman in the passenger seat had long black hair and wore red-rimmed glasses.

I didn't know what was going on, I didn't know where I was nor I didn't recognise who these people were. Not once did either of them turned or spoke to me, just as my eyes look up at the rearview mirror, I could see the man looking back at me. I felt my heart skip a beat, but only just for a moment before his eyes turned soft. "Don't worry Kaiya," he said to me, in a more calm and kinder voice than when he was talking to the woman. "We're not fighting. We just got into a bit of a disagreement." The way he spoke to me was almost like he was talking to a child. His eyes were the colour pale blue and they looked into mine as if he was trying to assure me that nothing bad was going on. It made me feel like he was struggling to hold a reassuring smile to tell me that all was alright. I caught a glimpse of the woman eyeing me from the side-view mirror from the window next to me. Her dark hazel eyes looked at me almost in the same way the man did, but at the same time, they also looked regretful. She averts her eyes from mine as she turns back to the man and tries again to argue with him. "Yuki we— LOOK OUT!" I saw her eyes narrow from the man to his window, as her eyes then grew wide with fear. I looked in the same direction, but all that I could see was a flash of bright white light that was rocketing towards the car.

My mind blacked out for a few minutes before I then found myself lying on the side of the road in a patch of grass. As I sat up, I see a car that was flipped over across the road in front of me while shards of glass, fragments, and pieces of the vehicle scattered around as it was engulfed into flames and was blazing brightly. I was frightened and confused. Was that the car I was in? How did it— That light we saw, what was it? Were we hit by another car? My body felt a little numb, it was heavy to try to move and my eyes were more fixed on the car while it continued blazing and the sky is polluted with the smell of ash. "Yuna! Yuna can you hear me?!" The familiar voice of the man— "Yuki", sounding very distressed came into my earshot. As I turned my head in the direction of his voice, I saw him a few feet away in a crouching position with his back turned to me and leaning over the body of a woman. He screams at her to wake up while also shaking her shoulders and loudly sobbing. A disturbing thought came to my mind as I realise who the body might be. 'Was that the woman? Was she okay, is she hurt? Why isn't she waking up?'

"Kaiya!" Yuki, noticing that I was looking his way, whips his head in my direction, a scared expression was over his face with his eyes wide with worry and alarm. As he stands up from his crouch and quickly comes up to meet me, my eyes drift to the body of the woman—"Yuna". Only as I had a clear view of her still body, Yuki block my view of her as he crouches down in front of me to my height. Even as I try to look behind him or over his shoulder, he would move in all my directions so that I wouldn't be able to see her. "No, no— don't look, she's okay! Just look at me, alright?" At once, I didn't believe him. I knew that she wasn't okay, but I still obeyed and my eyes were looking solely on his face that was covered in dirt, a line of dried up blood on the side of his face that came from his ear, and his eyes were filled with dread and were very puffy like he had been crying.

"Kaiya, listen to me." Yuki then places both of his hands on my arms and squeezes them tightly, almost hurting me and this at once grabs my attention, I couldn't take my eyes away from his. "No matter what happens, promise me that you won't use your ability. You must never use it ever again, do you understand?! Kaiya, if you understand promise me!" I didn't know what he was talking about, but I didn't listen to what he said though. As his voice began to sound enraged and his eyes looked widely at me in desperation, I couldn't help myself to nod to him almost petrified as I slightly trembled. As if seeing the fear in me and realising he lost his calm composure, Yuki's fearful expression then softened and he returned to the assuring driver who had spoken to me before as he weakly forces a small smile. "…Good girl." He whispers, placing a warm hand over my cheek and he caresses it softly with his thumb. Though I flinched at his first touch, immediately I lean into it and I could feet my eyes closed unconsciously.

In my mind, for some reason, I knew he was trying to act as if everything was alright, even though he could barely hold a smile to assure me. My heart slightly tightened, I wanted to cry for him. But although til I meet him and I didn't know who he was nor the woman Yuna, I felt that there was something about their voices and his touch that seemed familiar. It was similar to the reaction and feeling when you recognise a type of scent that makes you wonder if you smelled it before. Why does his touch feel so comforting? So safe and peaceful? But also…why so lonely too? "I'm sorry Kaiya." I open my eyes to Yuki's, who's voice then sounded broke and apologetic. The touch of his hand shifting over my eyes and forehead and a bright white light blinded my vision. The sounds of the fire from the burning car and Yuki's voice are drowned as I fall into a deep sleep and my mind feels light and becomes… empty.

Then as immediately as it started, my eyes were open and I was now in a different place than before now fully wide awake. This time instead of a yellow hoodie and sweat-shorts, I was dressed in my current clothes, a black hoodie, white shirt, and jeans, while my hair was back into a ponytail. I at once recognised my surroundings as the strange dream from before I woke up in the mafia headquarters, however only just a few moments after I realise it, the atmosphere and world around me darkens and everything turns to the colour of a moonless night, making it hard for me to see into the empty distance beyond as if it were almost pitch black.

"The time is near…" From all around I could hear a faint voice calling to me as if it were an echo. It scared me, but though it sounded as if it weren't human, the sound seemed demonic or monstrous and as I tried turning in every direction to find the source of the voice, there was no sign of anyone here with me but myself.

"I am coming…for you." Hearing the voice say that as it calls out again, I felt a shiver ran through me and my hair sticks up from the back of my neck and the air around me suddenly becomes dead cold as the voice grows louder like it was only a few steps from me. Not knowing what direction I was going in, I moved forward, hoping that I would walk away from the voice and not blindly walk towards it. However, only just after did I take the first few steps, I suddenly felt myself bump into a wall that almost felt like glass, and when I stepped back a few feet to have a better view of it through the darkness, I had a clear sight of what it was. It was a mirror, or at least that's what I believed it to be. It was just as tall as I was, but it had no post, frame, stand or wall to hold it up against, and it almost looked as if it came up from the floor as it didn't have a solid bottom while it stood up straight on its own. I took a step close to the mirror. At first, I saw nothing, not even my reflection, but only the emptiness and darkness around me as it stared back. I take another step closer. This time as I do, I saw a blurred figure beginning to take a view in front of me from where I was standing. 'Must be my reflection.' I thought to myself.

However, just as the blurriness of the mirror became clear, I gasped at the vague image of my reflection. Though the clothes were the same, my dark hair was out of its ponytail and was long and white, I had markings all across my face, down my eyes and neck while my hazel eyes were black with white pupils in the middle, almost shinning like they were pearls. I felt a little scared, but I was also a little intrigued that its strange appearance, and I couldn't take my eyes away from it. It looked exactly like me, but with the white hair and eyes, it kind of looked like I was a different person. I lean forward to touch the glass and my reflection does the same. However only just seconds after, the demonic reflection of me suddenly leaps out through the mirror from the upper body, showing no expression as her cold hands grasp onto my neck and strangle it tightly with her nails digging into my flesh.

It all happened so fast I couldn't have stepped back from her hands or move aside to dodge and I was very terrified about what was happening. The pain from her nails spreader throughout my neck, and it felt like it was on fire as I could barely feel the air come out from my choking gasps. My eyes began to feel heavy, but I fought to keep consciousness, trying to hit and squeeze the other me's wrists for her to let me go before I suffocate. As her dark white-pupil eyes looked deep into mine, a wide sinister and evil grin spreads across her mouth to her cheeks as her eyes grew wide with amusement. She then slowly leans in close to the side of my face, almost brushing my cheek, and I could feel her cold breath on my ear as she then whispers to me in a low demonic voice, "Are you ready?" The voice I was hearing was hers. My breath seized and everything around me fades away into nothingness as I lost consciousness.

I awoke with a loud gasp, feeling my sore throat let out huge breaths of air as I could feel my heart beating rapidly in my chest. Staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling, it took me a few moments, and the remainder of the thick shock collar around my neck, to remember what had happened earlier and realise I was in the Port Mafia headquarters. After I was left alone in my new room, I cried on the soft bed for sometime before deciding to lie down, and strangely enough, I drifted off to sleep despite the situation and place I am in. Pulling myself out of the blue silk covers of the bed to sit up, through the giant windows in front of me, I saw that it was already dark outside, and raining was pouring down heavily with the faint sound of thunder in the background. "How long was I asleep for?" I mumbled the question to myself. No one responded to my question but the quiet rain around me as it hit the windows. I guess it didn't matter anyway. As I sat up from my bed, my head started to feel a little heavy and it began to ache as my hands slightly trembled when I used one to rub my temples. 'That was I scary dream…' Soon my head cleared, I slowly got out of bed and after a few minutes of peering through the dim darkness with the light from the window, I was able to find the light switch to the room and I also decided to take a shower to wake myself up and clear my head. Although I was still very sleepy, I didn't want to go back to bed, and I remembered that since there wasn't any food waiting for me when I woke up, it must mean that Chūya hasn't brought me dinner yet. Not thinking about it either, because of how tired I was, I grabbed the white nightgown off the hook on the door before I entered the bathroom.

It was pretty big compared to what I originally thought of it when first seeing the door. Decorated in white tiles, it had the basic things that any other bathroom would have, a sink and mirror, a tub, a rack with a few towels, and a shower in the very back that was big enough to fit three people that was behind a glass screen door. I stared in awe, cause to me it looked glorious and fancy like something in a spa, and compared to the hotel me and Howl stayed in, this was the first time I had been in a proper bathroom since I ran away from the orphanage two years ago. I pull out my hair by the black ribbon kept in place, and take off my clothes, I stepped into the glass shower, making sure that I had the nightgown and a towel near me when I got out. After fiddling around with the shower handles, I was able to turn the water to the right warm temperature. (And although I couldn't find a way to take off the collar, as I stepped into the water and let it onto it, I didn't feel any shocks or reactions.)

On a small wired shelf on my right-hand side on the wall, there were large bottles of conditioner, shampoo, and body soap and as I use the shampoo to wash through my scalp, half my mind drifts off somewhere else as I recollect the phenomenal dream that I had. 'Those people… they looked so familiar, but why can't I remember them?' Flashbacks of the dream continued to cross my mind as the hot water of the shower-head continued falling on my head and the hot steam rises and covers the glass screen. No matter how hard I tried looking back on them, I couldn't recognise either of them. I soon brushed it off and for the remainder of the time I spent in the shower, I continued cleaning myself up and washing my hair whilst also trying to think of what to do about the test I had to take tomorrow.

'There's no way that I could ever win.' I continually thought this to myself in doubt and worry. 'What if the person I fight is stronger than me, not to mention, what will I do if I can't use my ability to protect myself against them?' I cannot control my ability in a way that I can in for offence and I wouldn't be able to defend myself with it either. Though a weapon would probably be my best chance, it probably wouldn't do me any good in winning. After experiencing both Chūya and Akutagawa's gifts in action from when I was taken, I knew that if I couldn't have escaped from them back then, I wouldn't know what I could be able to do in a real fight. Imagining what would happen tomorrow, I picture myself on the ground, defected beneath my unknown opponent who looks down on me, being taken away in iron chains and being forced to do whatever the mafia boss— Mori, wanted me to do. The possibilities of what they were were unthinkable to me. The things that I knew for certain, was that I would never see Howl again and would I ever get the chance to meet Dazai, or apologise for hurting Ranpo and running away.

If I lose, the normal life that I wanted so badly to get… will no longer be obtainable and will be further away from my reach. Losing the strength in my legs and feeling very small and helpless, I slid down onto the shower floor, with the water falling onto my head above as I slowly began to cry and let out silent sobs. I didn't know what to do. What could I do? How could I have any hope of making it through now and tomorrow?

I step out of the back into the room, now wearing the white nightgown while my hair was put up in a towel and I'm carrying my previous clothes that were bundled up and clamped together in my arms as across the room, the door opens and Chūya steps in, using one hand to turn the knob and open the door while the other was balancing a tray of food. We make eye contact as we both close the doors we went through and gives me an unreadable look as he cringed slightly. "Did you wash up?" he asked with a grumble in his tone. I nodded in response, I felt my heart beating a little anxiously and I just stood there feeling antsy whilst trying not to look directly at his emerald green eyes that brightened in the dim light of the room. At my silent response, he sighs irately as he walks towards the side table and chairs. "I brought you your dinner." he then adds, setting down the tray and taking a seat in one of the furnished chairs as he rests his chin on his hand.

Chūya turns his head to mean and gives me an annoyed look as if he were expecting me to do something, I slowly realised that he was waiting for me to sit on the second chair beside him so that I could eat. Turning my eyes away from his and looking to the floor, I quickly put my clothes on the bed and then hesitantly approached the empty chair across from him. I could feel his eyes staring at me intently as I sat down next to him. I slowly look at the side table that was between us, being cautious not to give him eye contact. Placed on top of the silver tray, was a western-style dish of mashed potatoes, small vegetables, and a giant burger steak right in the very centre of the plate covered in what looked like gravy. The display was mouthwatering, the rich aroma filled my nose and at once I could hear my stomach beginning to rumble with longing for something to eat.

"Hey! You gonna eat it or not?" Chūya then abruptly asked, making me snap out of my gaze on the meal and realising that I had been only staring at my food for a few minutes and not eating. "If it's not to your liking, then you can go to bed without." However before he could lean over and take away my dinner, not wanting to be left hungry, I placed the tray on my lap, grabbed the knife and fork that was also on the tray, and tucked into a piece of the burger steak. My eyes widened in surprise, but also awe from the hot juicy taste of the steak in my mouth. The taste was like nothing I've ever had. It slightly burned my tongue as I ate it quickly, but at the same time, it watered my mouth with delight and satisfaction. I thought that this might have been the only best hot meal I've had in a long time from eating cold take-out food and leftover snack packages on the streets when I was living in Tokyo. "It's good," I mumbled, unable to stop myself from saying it out loud. From beside me, I hear Chūya click his tongue as if to say, 'Well duh, what did you expect?'

"We aren't monsters." I looked up from my tray to him as he says this scornfully, he still wore the same mean-looking frown he had when I first woke up in the mafia headquarters. "With the time those who took to make this, you better be grateful for the meal at all." So I then continued, eating the big juicy burger steak while also taking in small servings of the mash potatoes and vegetables. Around halfway through the meal, though I tried not to pay much attention to it, I would take a few sidewards glances towards Chūya's injured hand. The layer of bandages it had earlier decreased and the hand itself didn't look as bad then I thought it was. Feeling just a small pang of guilt, as I stopped eating for a few moments to drink some water from the glass cup and jug on the side table and I decided that it probably wouldn't be too much trouble to ask. "How's your hand?" I ask in a murmur before I let out a small cough and looking back up to him.

Leaning in his chair, he had one leg crossed over to the other while he was doing something on his cellphone. "It's fine." He grumbles a reply taking his eyes away from his phone to look and gives me a mean sidewards glare. "There's no need for you to keep worried about it, I already forgave you didn't I?" I could instantly tell that he was annoyed, so I quickly nodded and looked back onto my food, feeling a little awkward for even asking him. I decided not to say anything else to him, not wanting to force the conversation on as I resumed eating my meal. For the rest of the time, while I was eating the meal, neither of us said a thing to each other and I barely made eye contact with him as I was soon finished eating all my food.

"Thanks, for…—ACHOO!" As I shifted myself to Chūya and was about to thank him, my words were overtaken by an abrupt sneeze. Sniffling, I took the tray off my lap and placed it back on the side table as it was before and realised that I didn't yet get to dry my hair before Chūya came to serve me dinner. 'There weren't any cupboard or anything in the bathroom aside from the towel and soaps.' I thought this, thinking back on what I found in the bathroom as I picked up a small strand of hair that had fallen out of my hanged up towel and fiddled it around in my thumb and index finger. 'Maybe I could ask Chūya for an extra towel? Maybe a hairdryer if possible?' However, before I could think of asking, Chūya suddenly arises from his chair, takes the tray, and walks towards the door without giving me a word. He leaves the room with me sitting dumbfounded and a little downcast for not quickly asked.

After a few minutes went by, I felt sure that he wasn't going to come back. So as I got up from my chair, I looked through the bathroom for something I could use to dry my hair. The towels I had around my hair and the one I had to dry my body with were far too wet for me to use, and I remembered that they were the only two that were hanging on a rack in the bathroom. After some time went by, from outside the bathroom I heard the door open. As I walk out, I see Chūya, who instead of a dinner tray, in his hands he was now holding both a small black brush and a hairdryer. I walk out of the bathroom up to him to grab them, but as I reach out, he quickly pulls it away from my hand just as my fingers barely grazed it. I look at him questionably and a feeling a little surprised as he gives me a dull neutral expression in return. Just as I was about to ask him to lend it to me, he then said in a deep demanding tone, "Sit down." I blinked at him conflicted. "What?" I asked, thinking that maybe he meant something else or not understanding his meaning. "Just do it." He says to me again, his voice only sounding a slight bit irritated knowing that I heard it the first time.

Not wanting to make him mad. and thinking he would do something if I stood there questioning it, I hurried over to the closet chair, looking back behind me to see him slowly walking behind as I sat down. From as far as my neck could turn behind me, I see Chūya approach and stop right up from behind me and the chair. "Turn around." He orders as his emerald-green eyes look down on me coldly. I whipped my head around facing the front, trying to see what he was doing from the corner of my eye as I heard a bit of rustling noises coming from the side table next to me. Though for a few moments that I couldn't tell what was happening, I slowly felt his hand grab onto a bundle of my hair, and as I could hear the hairdryer being turned on from behind me, without any warning I felt the hot rapid blow of the hairdryer being directed into the back of my head. Being a little startled, I try to push away as my hair felt like it was being pulled and scorched by the heat on top of my head.

"Stop squirming." I hear Chūya say to me arrogantly, letting go of my hair to grab my shoulder and pull me back up against the chair (which startled me even more). "Your hair's not gonna dry up itself. Sit still till I'm done." Though I wasn't sure what to make of his reasons for why feeling a little awkward I silently sat in the chair trying to be as still as possible and to not squirm while he continued drying my hair. For about 10 minutes after, apart from the occasional flinch of a strand of hair being pulled, he started to manage my hair a little more gently, and as the sound of the hairdryer stops and the hot heat from it moves away from my head, I felt relieved that it was finally over and done with.

However, just as I turned to thank him shyly, he then picks up the hairbrush and I felt myself being to panic. "I can do it myself!" I then tell him quickly as I tried sounding appreciated, but it ended up sounding shaky. But whether he didn't hear or was just ignoring me, with a neutral expression he turns my head back to the front, grabbed onto a warm bundle of my hair, and started to brush it without me giving him any kind of consent. In my mind, I sighed. (though I didn't mind him being ('nice'?), it sort of weirded me out a little.) First, he dried my hair, and he was now brushing it as if I were a doll. I didn't know what to think of it honestly. Unlike when he was using the hairdryer, how he brushed my hair was more gentle, and that at times I would sort of flinch every time I felt his hands lightly brush against my neck or if he held my shoulder to tell me to sit still.

'Dammit. Will you just sit still already?' I hear Chūya's voice, sounded as if it was only a distant echo and almost in a whisper. As I turned my head to him, he looked at me a little irritated. "What?" he asked me in a low tone that didn't seem like the voice that I heard. "Did you say something?" I quickly asked him nervously. With a raised eyebrow, he replies with a simple, "No" before he lightly moves my head back forth and resumes brushing my hair. 'Maybe I'm just imagining things.' This was what I thought, however only just moments afterwards, I heard him again and I knew for sure that I wasn't. 'Geez, her hair is pretty thick. Tough to manage too.' I freeze up at the confirmed realisation that I was now experiencing. Like when I was running through the crowded market district with all those people, I could read his mind! I was stunned in a panic state and I couldn't grasp the situation as to how or why I could hear his thoughts.

In Chūya's mind, his voice sounded softer and gentle-like, compared to the tone he was using talking to me with his real one. Though without intentionally meaning too, as he continues to brush my hair while talking aloud inside his mind unconsciously, I couldn't help but listen to what he was thinking. 'I can't believe that the boss would even consider taking this brat into the mafia as a member.' I hear him say, his voice sounding irritated as it echoed and I listen with curious interest. 'Although I agree that she has a beneficial gift we could use, she's still just a teenager. She lacks strength and agility nor could she even put up a fight against me and Akutagawa. It was like she was begging us to take her.' At his unspoken but heard words, I felt offended by his thoughts (insult) as I cringed my face into a small pout. His voice then changed into a nicer tone as he continued. 'However I'll admit, she has balls. She's pretty brave not to be here and not panic in the kind of situation she is in right now. Plus for this kid to lose her parents at a young age and to live on the streets for 2 years, I can only imagine the kind of hardships she had to go through on her own.'

My parents… Though the memories of them, back after and before the accident are still foggy to me now, as I slowly remember the strange dream with the man and woman— Yuki and Yuna, my mind was almost analysing and recollecting through the dream as it all suddenly came to me. It all made sense now. The car, the fire, being on the side of the road, the man, Yuki's familiar warm smile, his touch, and their voices… They were them… My parents. The dream I had, was a memory of the accident and how it took place. I then realised a lot of other things about my dream that I didn't think to question or wonder about. Like, in the hospital where I woke up after the accident, I was told that my parents and I were caught in a car crash by another driver. However, in my dream of the incident, there were no other cars around that looked to have been crashed. There was only ours. So does that mean something else happened to use? 'We can't outrun them.' Were we being chased, and if so, by who? Could that have happened to us? What was the promise Yuki made me promise him to keep? 'No matter what happens, promise me that you won't use your ability.' Why would he make me promise something like that? Then, an unpleasant thought entered my mind.

'Could he have been… scared of me? My ability. Did I… cause the accident? Could that have been the reason?'

Suddenly feeling my hands that were laid on my lap were becoming wet, I looked down and realised that my eyes had become watery as tears were rolling down the side of my cheeks as I slowly began to cry. Chūya saw too, and he at once stopped doing my hair as he quickly footed in front of me and looks onto my face looking surprised. "Hey kid, what's with the waterworks?!" He asked me in his real voice, sounding confused and panicked. I didn't answer him though, I only put my head in my hands and over my eyes, hiding my tears from him to see as I could feel my chest slowly aching and my breathing becomes uncomfortably hard. I let in and exhale deep breaths as my mouth began to let out silent sobs. The reason, the promise I made to Yuki that I now had long broken, was because he knew that it was dangerous. I wasn't the only one to think that, he knew too. Both Yuki and Yuna— my dad and my mom, died because of something having to do with my power I still now possessed.

It's all my fault. "It— It's just not fair…" I whimpered as I tried my best to speak while choking back my sobs and tears. "What's not fair?" I heard him ask me with slight confusion in his voice. Still not looking up from my hands, I just continued talking, "I-I just wanted to have a normal life with my family… I only wanted to be like— everyone else… but I never wanted to have an ability! Why?! Was I the reason that they died?! Did my parents die because I had this power?!" My voice began to suddenly crack and I could feel it beginning to rasp and turn raw as it pained me to keep screaming. "They all call it a gift, but to me, it's nothing but a goddam curse! They are dead because of it! BECAUSE OF ME! I HATE IT! I HATE IT SO MUCH!…" I broke out into a loud sob as many unwanted thoughts and feelings were swirling up inside me and turning my stomach. I started thinking about how I always felt like I was seeing myself as a danger. Though I was trying to live things normally with the way I lived on the streets with Howl, it felt like I was only hiding the fact that I was someone to be afraid of. This ability and having no control over it only gives me piled on reasons as to why I should hate myself for not being born like everyone else and for not being normal.

I could feel Chūya's presence as his footsteps slowly walk around and stop up in front of me as he looms over. At first, I thought he was gonna tell me to shut up or hit me, but except for that, I then could suddenly feel his hand resting on top of my head, caressing it as if he was trying to comfort me. I slowly look up at him, crouched down to meet my eyes, they were averted from mine and almost looked troubled, as if trying to think of the right words to say. Coughing lightly and shrugging his shoulder, he then speaks in a low tone that was almost struggling to sound gentle but gruff. "I'm not good at this sort of thing— with comforting people… but—"

I didn't let him finish what he was going to say before I pushed out of my chair and latched myself onto him in a hug, holding him tightly in my arms and not wanting to let go as new tears began to resurface my face. I felt his body stiffen in shock as his arms were hesitantly being held above midair. Though I was expecting him to push me back, he slowly then let his arms down and wraps his arms around my shoulder and back, making me feel helpless as I cried into his shoulder and clenched into his coat. I didn't remember how long we stayed in that position, but at some point, I knew that even though he didn't probably care for my feelings at all, in those moments he gave me a little bit of comfort that made the painful thoughts and emotions slowly vanish as fast as they invaded me. In those moments, I only imagined the feeling of being in a comforting embrace with Howl.

"You mean you don't remember anything after the accident?" Chūya asks me as I handed him back the dark handkerchief he lent me to use for my running nose and already gone-away tears. I nodded to him as I rubbed my puffy eyes with the back of my closed hand. "I didn't remember about my parents or the fact I even had an ability," I explained to him, couching a little at the back of my through and my voice feeling dry and sore from crying. "I thought I was just a normal kid. It was only till after I burned my orphanage down that I realised it for sure. From what I've learned out of using it, my ability is fire-based, but it's was very wild and difficult for me to control, so I tend not to use it."

In the end, I couldn't stop crying until later in the night. Chūya stayed with me, sitting on the bed and wrapping a blanket from the large bed around me, and without thinking I told him about my amnesia to the accident and my ability. Even now when I realised it was a foolish thing to do, I hated myself for blurting out everything to him while being in a defenceless and vulnerable position. What I was smart about though, was not to tell him about why I came to Yokohama to find a cure or that other strange things have been happening to me, like being able to read minds and predicting my death from being hit by a car. At the back of my mind, I wondered how Howl would have reacted or said to me for being too trustworthy to a man I barely met. Not to mention, who is also in the mafia. "How often do you use it?" Chūya then asked. "Rarely," I replied in a mutter with a quick answer, not wanting to go into any details. However, not seeing that, Chūya continued to ask me more questions. "Then how do you defend yourself?"

Defend? I hesitate for a moment at his question, before I took a small breath. "I don't… I barely ever use my power. My friend— Howl, is the one who… protects me." I said 'protect' slowly and feeling a little awkward and embarrassed admitting it aloud. Looking away from the ground, from the corner of my eye I see Chūya's face, his expression dumbstruck and confused but also a little curious. As I looked down at the floor again, my mouth slowly muttered on its own as I tried to explain. "He's been with me ever since I ran away from the orphanage. He found me on the streets on the brink of hunger, gave me food and shelter, even though we barely knew each other. Soon after time had passed, I told him about my ability, and since then, he has been the closest thing I could call family."'Almost as if he was like a second father to me.' I then add thinking to myself as I felt a small smile prick up from the corner of my mouth. However, from beside me, I hear Chūya say to me bluntly in a cold tone, "Your friend won't be able to protect you tomorrow." As quickly as it appeared, the small smile I had faded. "You know that don't you?

Of course, I knew that. The thought of tomorrow terrifies me. I'll be alone. Howl won't be there with me and I would haft to fight on my own. Although I am already 15 years old and I should learn to take care of myself, Howl would constantly tell me not to use it, with him worried about my condition when coughing out blood and get weak after using my ability, he would never force me to learn at a fuller extent. In a fight without him and without me having any experience at all, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. My voice sounding shaky, spoke aloud to Chūya as I faced away from his gaze. "I do…but I don't want to fight." I paused for a minute, taking in a deep breath and letting my chest release some tension and the heavy feeling it gave me. "Ever since I ran away, I tried learning how to control it, I did, and even Howl helped me to control for small periods of a time, I would always risk putting myself in danger because of my weak immune system… I never use it because whenever I 'activated' it, I'd feel as if my body is not my own to control. I would be scared to put others' lives in danger and to make everyone scared of me because of something that is apart of me. I'm not a fighter, nor am I someone who could help others. All I am is a burden… to everyone around me…" As I say that last bit, I felt a pang of guilt and hesitance as I think of Howl. For as long as I've known him, he had always been there with me through both my best and my worst. Even after when he accepted me, my ability, and when we both became close friends, I felt as if I would have been nothing but trouble to him and feared that he secretly hated me, even with that bright gentle smile I always see him have.

I hear Chūya sigh next to me. "If you don't want to hurt people, then to avoid being forced to do it forever, you're gonna haft to fight." He said this to me in a cold tone that seemed like he was being blunt and not sincere. I turned to him as he continues. "It won't matter if you hurt your opponent. They won't care if you're scared or if you don't want to go against them, they won't show you any mercy because you're a kid either. Your only options are to surrender and join the mafia or to use your ability and hope that you'll have a chance at winning." He clenches his teeth as he finishes speaking, but that was before I then heard, 'Although I doubt you're even strong enough to go against him.' His subconscious voice said this in a pitiful tone of voice. In my mind, from hearing it from him I felt as if he knew about something, that he was hiding or holding back to tell me. 'Him'? Then maybe…."Do you know who's going to fight me?" I ask him hesitantly, as my heart began beating fast. For a few minutes he didn't answer, I couldn't hear the voice in his head and I was nervous to ask him again. Goosebumps crawled all over my arms and a shiver ran down my spine as the silence between us thickens intensely. He shrugs his shoulders after a moment, letting out a loud sigh and turning to me with a solemn expression, looking like he was trying to figure out what to say to me.

His face shifts into a serious frown, with his emerald eyes shining dimly as they look into mine. He speaks again in a low growl, "Akutagawa." At his straightforward response, my pulse drops its rhythm for a moment, quickening again rapidly as my breath seized. I instantly felt the sense of fear and adrenaline running through me. The way he— Akutagawa looked at me, back when he used his gift on me and with the vibe he let out when we walked passed each other, it made my heart sank hopelessly and I knew that there was no way that I could win, or even compete against someone like him. He was— a monster. Seeing my frightened and panicked mixed expression, Chūya slowly continues as he rests a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry kid, but the deal is done. There's no turning back—"

"BUT THAT ISN'T FAIR!" I forcefully shoved Chūya's hand off my shoulder as I rose to my feet and yelled at him loudly, startling both him and myself. "I can't use my ability as you or Akutagawa can! Even if I had a weapon, I wouldn't stand a chance against him! This whole thing is rigged,— I wouldn't be able to win!" My voice raised in anger, as I couldn't hold back the frustration filling up inside me and my throat turning raw. No, it wasn't frustration… It was fear. Though I tried acting as if it did make me angry (and of course it did), I secretly knew that I was only looking for an excuse to conceal and hide the fear I was showing. Feeling my eyes water up, I fight back the urge to cry and I told myself not to break down. 'This was the boss's doing. He deceived me into thinking I could just simply win and walk out of here free.' "He knows that I will lose! HE ISN'T PLAYING FAIR! I CANNOT WIN—"

"YOU'RE NOT LISTEN TO ME DAMMIT!" Chūya then shouted as he too rises to his feet in front of me, grabbing my wrist tightly and forcefully pull me a few steps close to him, almost dragging me, and his face was inches away from mine. His mouth formed into a scowl and his eyes looked through mine intently enraged, it stunned me not to try and cut him off again a second time. "If you weren't so dense, then you probably would've realised that this was going to happen right from the start! He's not going to give a crap whether you want to fight or not, his goal is to keep you here one way or another! Life may have been different when you were living in the streets with your friend, but here you should at least know that you can't make a deal with the mafia when you're on our turf!

"'Play fair'?! At the very least you should expect us to not be fair with even a brat like you! If you thought that you could somehow reason with the boss or squeeze your way out of this, it ain't gonna be that simple kid! You had no idea what kind of crap you got yourself into! The only reason why he made this deal with you is that you're not cable of fighting to save your own life!" At those words, it felt like I couldn't hold onto my composer any longer. Slowly lowering my head to the floor, I look away from his eyes and stared down at both our feet, I could feel the hold on my tears as they were falling from my eyes sockets. I then spoke to him, trying to speak clearly but failing as my voice became shaky. "So what you're saying… is that no matter how hard I try, I'll never win anyway… because I'm weak…" We both stood for a few moments in silence until Chūya's grip on my wrist slowly loosened as a small stream of tears began to pour down on my face and chin. Feeling his hand finally realising my wrist, I pull it away from him, taking a few steps to the bed beside us, and turned my back to Chūya as more tears began to rise. "I didn't mean it like that." I heard Chūya then said to me, his voice sounding hesitantly low and silent. "I'm sorry." I then heard him think (say) subconsciously, 'Crap, I messed up.' My head then began to feel heavy and I almost scoff as I said to him weakly, "You are right…. I'm just… useless… and weak—"

"If you were weak, then there wouldn't have been a reason why you're here, right?" Chūya's voice cuts me off as his voice sounded cold. I blink through my tears, trying to wipe them roughly off my cheeks, trying to think and make sense of all this and the meaning of his question. 'Why am I here? What could be so special about me? I'm nothing but trouble for everyone. I can't control my ability, I couldn't even be of use to anyone. Why would the mafia want—' I suddenly felt Chūya place a hand on my shoulder, as he then said to me in a soft tone, "Look, I am sorry, alright? I'm not good when it comes to kids and their problems, and especially not ones like yours." He pauses for a moment, taking in a small breath before continuing. "There won't be anything that I can say to make this all go away, but you need to know, your ability can be controlled." Controlled? The very word almost made my heart tighten in the length for such a gift better than the one he or I possessed. "Though it might not be enough time before the test, I could…help you learn some techniques I use to keep your cool and teach you how to use a gun, only if you want." Help me? I turn to look at his face in utter disbelief, almost speechless with conflicted feelings swirling in my chest. His face was neutrally sincere, and there wasn't the slightest hint of him lying. "Really?" I asked him in a weak voice, swallowing down on my throat.

He nodded to me in reply, his expression stoned. He wasn't joking. Without giving him a moment to allow consent, I ran into him, wrapping my arms around his back and into a tight hug. "Thank you! Thank you!" I exclaimed, my arms around him growing a little tighter. I could feel him patting my back a little roughly, and for a moment I thought that I was suffocating him without realising it. "Don't think too much into it kid," Chūya said to me, his voice sounding a little annoyed. "I know you're gonna get your ass kicked tomorrow. I'm only doing this because I was assigned to be your supervisor. The Boss figured I'd train you since it was your first fight."Even as he said that I was only ever thinking about the relief I felt. Though I knew and had doubts on whether he was serious, at the moment I genuinely thought that he was comforting me even more, reminding me of Howl and of the mission we are on, and somehow giving me hope for tomorrow. However, while I was still holding Chūya, I suddenly felt the air slowly turn cold and I had a strange feeling that we were being watched.

My eyes drift over to the window behind where Chūya and I were standing, and through the darkness around us, in our reflections, I saw a most terrifying sigh. Her long white hair shone in the moonlight, almost as brightly as her dark white-pupil eyes, staring intently into mine on her deeply marked face and instantly recognising her as the other me from my nightmare. She looked to be in the same place where I was, her figure behind the reflection of Chūya's back as if she was somehow replacing my mine with hers. A wide antagonising smile speaks across her thin lips and letting out a frightened gasp, I push away from Chūya. Backing away from the window to the bedpost behind me and nearly tripping myself over as I kept my eyes almost glued to that smiling demonic reflection. From the corner of my eye, I saw my reaction and scared expression, Chūya looks to where I was looking, but after as he looks back at me, his face didn't seem at all surprised or startled. "What is it?" He asked me, his voice sounding confused. 'He can't see her?' Though it was only for a moment when I looked at him in confusion, when I was about to tell him what I saw, looking back at my reflection, she slowly faded into the darkness of the night outside the window and disappeared, replacing nothing but my scared reflection staring back at me. Chūya walks up to me next to where I am standing, looking at the window and my reflection, of course seeing nothing of what I just saw moments ago.

"What's wrong?" He asked again, making me confirm that he didn't see my other me's reflection. I didn't know what I should answer, she wasn't there anymore and I couldn't tell him otherwise, he'd probably think I was making it up. Should I tell him? Would he believe me if I did? Instead, "I-It's nothing." I told him with my voice almost in a whisper. "I must have… sawn something else." However, with a heavy feeling in my stomach, I had a feeling, and I feared that what I saw was not just a hallucination for something from my dream. The words of the other me in the white cloak from my other dream began to reminisce and repeat in my mind. 'When the moon turns to blood, her chains will decay and she will attempt to poison your body, mind, and very being… The Fallen Angel… will rise again.'

The next thing I knew, the night had passed and I was slowly awoken in bed by Chūya, who shook my shoulder lightly. "Time to get up kid." He says to me as my tired and heavy eyes see him vividly. Rubbing my eyes and clearing my blurry vision, I yawned to the morning sunlight shining through the massive windows that were still wet from the night before. "Brought you some clothes." Chūya then lays a pair of clothes on the edge of the bed beside where my feet were. I looked around to where I last left my clothes on the night before, then back at Chūya, who knew what I was trying to look for. "Don't worry, your old ones will just be getting a wash." He told me, standing at the side of my bed with his hands behind his back. "It'd be best if you use these for the time being until they're clean. Boss's orders." I looked down at the clothes again as I picked one of them up to see I was given a dark grey long sleeve shirt, along with a pair of leggings and a matching black jacket. "Thank you," I spoke to him in a small voice.

After taking 3 minutes to get changed into my new clothes and 10 for eating two bowls of rice and miso soup for breakfast, along with a few bodyguards, I was escorted out of my room with Chūya leading us at the front while heavy cuffs were tightly bonded to my wrists. We walked around marble and steel hallways for some time before walking down a flight of stairs and stopping at two large steel doors in a dark tunnel. As Chūya opened both of them, we walked through and entered into a massive concrete room that was the size of a gym. Against the walls of the room were racked shelves of dumbbells, one line mannequins with another line of paper targets, and a rectangular square mat that stretched out from both sides of the room. The most disturbing thing I noticed about the room, was that there were no windows of any kind and the only sources of light were from the small lights in the wall above us and there were only a few vents that were on each corner of the room below the ceiling.

Chūya then turns to me, putting out his gloved hand (the one that I did not hurt) and steadily holding it up as a red glow surrounded it. I could suddenly feel the cuffs around my wrists shake, and before I could think of what was happening, just like magic they both break off and fall to the floor with a loud clang. The tightness that was around them decreased, and feeling the swelling around the faint red marks around them, I rub the sides of both my wrists as Chūya turns to face to rest of the men behind me. "Leave us. I'll be fine with her." He tells them in a serious tone (which I thought sounded pretty badass). I turn to the men as well, who look at each other uncertainly, then to me before back at each other again in uncertainty. It was almost as if they were questioning Chūya for his actions on realising me from my cuffs. One of the suited men in front, who was the one on the left side of me, then speaks out to him. "But sir—"

"I said leave." Chūya cuts him off in a scowling voice as his eyes narrowed threateningly. This made him stop him short, muddling up his words, and also made the other men hesitant and silent too, like they knew that another word would mean trouble for them. So without saying another word more from any of them, they all walk out of the room. I could hear the steel doors being locked from the outside and leaving both me and Chūya are left on our own in this massive room. He sighs loudly, taking off his black trench coat, revealing an open black crop jacket with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows underneath, and walking towards the middle of the room. "Alright, we have less than 3 hours in here to train and prepare you for the test." He said aloud to me. "After that, we'll move you to the arena. Got it?" He looks at me and I nodded to him in reply, just as he turns throws his coat onto as he then adds, "You said before that you were able to control a bit of your ability, right?" I answered him, "Yes." My voice sounding none-enthusiastic.

He nodded turning his back to me again as he continues, "Then we should start with working on improving your ability on what you can control. We'll work our way from there and then in the next hour we'll move onto teaching you how to use a weapon. You should use a gun, but I think it's best if we should start with…." As Chūya was explaining, I barely paid attention to his words as my thoughts were elsewhere. Although for the whole of last night, he had been there to comfort me, offered to help me, and listened to me when I was in a vulnerable place, I didn't know whether I could trust him or not. Knowing about my power and my weakness in not knowing how to use it, would he help me control it, or use it to his advantage, or tell his boss? I suddenly felt something hit my forehead a little hard, breaking me out of my thoughts, I realised that Chūya had lightly hit on the head, and was now standing in front of me, looking a little pissed, seeing that I was not listening to what he was talking about.

"Your spacing kid." He said to me, planting down a light hit on my forehead again and clicking his tongue in annoyance. "Either you can bother listening or you can try figuring out how to fight on your own." I quickly nodded apologetically, but his face didn't look satisfied with my response. "What's on your mind?" He asked, somehow seeing that I was distracted. "I…" Though I was about to make up some kind of excuse for my thoughts of suspecting Chūya, my words fumbled as I questioned myself on if I should whether or not ask if I could trust him and confess my thoughts. 'After what he's doing for me— and for last night, maybe I'm just being too distrusting in his help. However, could he be on my side? Even if the boss— Mori, ordered him to prepare me for today, does he even bother about what would happen to me if I win or lose?' So inhaling a small breath and clearing my muddled thoughts, I asked him in a clear voice as I tried not to sound accusing or arrogant. "How do I know… that I can trust you to help me?" For a few minutes, he didn't reply, but as if finding out what I was to mean towards him, slowly Chūya's expression shifts and his eyes narrow as he turns away from me and walks over to the other side of the room. I instantly regretted both my insecurities and what I said to him, thinking that I was maybe too straightforward and mean on my question. However, I then hear Chūya mumble aloud in a low growling voice, "I guess that's the thing; you don't." I was confused by his words, however before I could say anything back, Chūya then shifts on his right foot and turns around to face me as a red aura surrounds his body.

The soil ground beneath me begins to shake steadily and I am overwhelmed as I could feel a strong force coming from Chūya surround the atmosphere, making my body feel uneven and intimidated. Putting one foot in front of the other as a half- sneer spreads across his face. "You ready?" He asks me, daringly as his eyes glowed menacingly from where I stood. Though not knowing what to do, I get into a fighting stance and began taking in deep breaths as I slowly activate my ability as slowly takes form. Inhaling a deep breath in, I repeat to myself the same words I would repeat every time I used it, over and over like it were a prayer I'd use to slow down my breathing heart and keeping my composure. 'Don't lose control.'

To be continued in Part 2…